Sometimes Things Take Time
by CheekyBrunette
Summary: Kendall wakes up to a crying Logan, what better time than 3am to comfort a terrified friend?  Hopefully sweet enough to rot your teeth!


**This is for Michelle550 for her sixteenth birthday! THIS IS A FANTASTIC DAY WHERE A FANTASTIC PERSON WAS BORN, PEOPLE!**

**PS, if this is too not-what-you-wanted in any way, let me know, okay? I'll write another!**

Kendall squinted at his blaring, red, digital clock. He groaned at the time. It was so early, the sun hadn't even risen yet, but what could have woken him up? He sat up in the dark, glaring over at James's bed, thinking he'd been the one to wake him, but found the teen heart-throb hopelessly asleep. His eyes flickered to the soft light bending under the door of their room, leading to the Jack and Jill bathroom he and James shared with Carlos and Logan.

Kendall stretched like a cat and reluctantly got out of bed. He shielded himself from the bright light with his hands as he entered the bathroom. He suddenly became very alert at the sound of sobs creeping through the walls. Kendall peered into the tiny shower room to find Logan curled up in the bathtub, crying too hard to even acknowledge him.

Kendall's sleepy brain tried to process what was going on. He stood in the doorway, dumbfounded, without any clue of what was going on or what to do. He shook himself out of his daze and practically leaped over to the tub. He swept Logan up in his arms, and the shorter boy clung to his shirt as he carried him out to the orange couch. He sprawled out, too tired to sit up after being woken, and laid Logan on top.

Kendall held Logan tight against his chest with one arm, which Logan hung onto as if for dear life, and ran his free hand through the crying boy's short, thick hair in an attempt to calm him down. He could feel Logan heave against him, too distraught to even control himself. He wracked in Kendall's arms.

The blonde buried his face into Logan's hair, trying to let their closeness comfort him. He brushed his dark hair clumsily out of his face and rested his chin on the shorter boy's forehead.

Truthfully, Kendall was unnerved. Logan was just crying so hard, and Kendall had never seen him this way. It was scary, and he hated it. He pulled Logan closer against him, worried. He could feel him struggle to control himself, but that's not Kendall wanted. "Just let it run its course, buddy. Get it all out," he instructed, and that's when he flood gates _really_ opened.

As Logan cried, Kendall absent-mindedly traced the thick scars criss-crossing over the shorter boy's back. They'd never really talked about everything that had happened with his dad, but Logan had said he'd just wanted to put it behind him. It seemed like that wasn't as easy as Kendall had thought it would have been for him.

It was well into the morning when Logan's sobs subsided; he was still wrapped up in Kendall's arms. "I had a nightmare," he croaked, voice shot from crying. "It's not a big deal." Kendall almost laughed at the idea of Logan not thinking much of how hard he had been crying, but his smile faded as his train of thought continued. He stroked Logan's head.

"Was it your dad?" he asked and felt Logan immediately tense on top of him. He sat the younger boy up and pulled him into his lap. The hair on the back of the younger boy's neck stood straight up.

"He's was _never_ my _dad_," Logan responded tightly. Kendall squirmed uncomfortably beneath him.

"I take that as a yes," he said awkwardly with a gulp. He realized that this was probably a conversation he would rather not have gotten himself into. "So… do you wanna talk about it?" Kendall asked with a wince. Logan bristled.

"No," he said curtly, but Kendall knew he was lying. Somewhere deep inside, Kendall knew there was a part of Logan that just needed to get this all out. Logan needed closer, and that couldn't happen if he wasn't open. Kendall embraced Logan from behind, resting his head on the shorter boy's shoulder.

"Yeah, you do." He waited as Logan relaxed and rubbed circles on his arms. "What was your dream about?" Logan leaned back against him, and Kendall held him comfortingly around the waist.

"He was hurting me…" he trailed off as a sob got caught in his throat. "He just kept coming again and again, and I was screaming, I was always screaming, and It was scary, and I didn't know what to do cause he just kept cutting and tearing, and it hurt just _so bad_ until I didn't know what was going on, and I-I-I-I don't know!" he wailed incoherently. He continued to babble on, not making that much sense, but Kendall gathered enough to understand the basic premise of the dream.

Mr. Mitchell had a knife and used it to attack Logan, and the worst part? The angry red lines on Logan's back proved it had actually happened.

Kendall wanted more than anything to comfort Logan. To say it hadn't happened, to say it was just a dream, but the problem was it wasn't. He wasn't sure what to do. As a leader, Kendall was the one to say the right things and make sure everything was okay, but he didn't know what to do in a situation like this. He didn't know how to step up to something like this, and it killed him. All he wanted was to make that stupid, terrified, hurt look in Logan's eyes go away. He went to pull him in tighter, but Logan flinched and slinked out of his lap, moving to the opposite side of the orange couch. Kendall looked at him, confused.

"What's wrong?" he asked, lost. Logan looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"I just don't want to be hurt anymore," he admitted quietly, and Kendall was completely confused.

"But Logan, I wouldn't hurt you!" he exclaimed.

The look Logan gave him shattered his world.

"Logie," he used the fail-safe nickname, "you _know_ I wouldn't hurt you. I could never-" he cut himself on as he tried to resist hyperventilating. "I could _never_ touch you like that," he finished, eyes never leaving Logan's. He tried to pour as much earnesty in his voice as possible. He struggled to swallow as Logan appeared to actually be _wavering_ on his words. This was _not_ how Logan was supposed to feel around him. He seemed scared and timid… Logan was scared and timid with everyone else, it wasn't right for him to feel that way around his best friend. Kendall scooted closer to him.

"Just… give me some space," Logan yelped, scurrying out of the living room and into the kitchen. Kendall followed, and soon they were staring at each other across the table. That's when Carlos, an unfortunately early riser, walked out of his room.

"Hey guys?" Carlos scratched his head. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

"We've been up," they answered in unison, and with that, Logan rushed into his now unoccupied room. Carlos looked to Kendall, not understanding, but the look on the blonde's face said he probably didn't want to know. Kendall mounted the swirly slide, following Logan's lead. He found the shorter boy hidden under his comforter in his bed.

"Logie…" he sighed.

"Kendy…" Logan mimicked from under the covers. Kendall rolled his eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the lump under the sheets that was Logan. He hit it and it squirmed to his delight.

"Logan, just come out from under there, okay? You know I won't hurt you!"

"Well you did just hit me!" Logan replied jokingly. He peeped out from under his blankets, a false smile plastered on his face. Kendall hated his ability to try to blow off stuff like this. He glared at the shorter boy.

"We need to talk about this." Logan looked at him wide eyed, allowing Kendall to see what he was really feeling. He looked frightened, and Kendall hated it.

"There's nothing to talk about…" he peered up at Kendall, not sure how to explain himself. "Look… I know you want to fix this," Kendall nodded, "but this isn't something you can just… magically make better like you're used to." Kendall looked at Logan, scared. He didn't like what he was saying. "You just have to…" he looked up at the blonde uncertainly, worried for his reaction. "Wait for me," he finished awkwardly.

Kendall opened his mouth to refuse, to say Logan was wrong and that he _could_ fix this, but, upon closer inspection, he realized that's not what Logan wanted. Sometimes, he needed to take things slow, Kendall knew that, so this time he was gonna let him. "Okay," he answered, and Logan eyed him skeptically.

"Really?"

"Yeah, anything," Kendall responded, liking the happiness that filled Logan's eyes. A big, corny smile crept up on the raven-haired boy's face. Kendall was already regretting his choice, but for Logan? Waiting was definitely worth it.

**This is an hour late, sorry! But it just didn't wanna come out! (Plus I was watching BTR when I was writing it, so we all know how THAT went…)**


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